The simplistic equation behind French government's budget plans to axe teaching jobs
France's new government under prime minister Michel Barnier last week announced details of its proposed budget, which aims to make up to 60 billion euros in savings. Part of the plan involves cutting jobs in education. Here in this op-ed article, Mediapart's education correspondent Mathilde Goanec wonders how the government will try to persuade the public to accept the decision to axe another 4,000 teaching posts, especially after it promised to place education at the heart of its concerns. She says ministers will resort to a lot of clever PR and rely on the now well-worn line that fewer teachers are needed because of declining demographics. Even though this argument does not stand up to scrutiny.
LastLast week the new French government under prime minister Michel Barnier unveiled its 2025 budget proposals and there was no ambiguity when it came to education. Controlling spending on public services “mainly comes from changes in staffing within the the national education system”, it stated.
